FreeBites are designed to support your bite on the posterior teeth, the therapy cushions in particular. TMJs are thus unloaded and muscles allowed to relax. However, the fewer back teeth you have left, the more this action of your FreeBite becomes compromised. However, the casing of your FreeBite maintains its shape better even with fewer teeth biting on it and therefore should be more effective than other bite cushions in such cases..
FreeBite therapy cushions are simply placed upon the lower teeth. They are not locked in place and can be moved such that the back teeth are supporting the bite symmetrically. The tongue quickly learns to adjust the position of your FreeBite in your mouth without you having to think about it!
With normal and large sized dental arches the anterior connector is placed behind the incisors, on a small dental arch in front of it. However, it should never be placed between the incisors which would compromise the posterior support. You can also move your FreeBite further forward if it feels like it is gagging you. Over time, your tongue should get used to it so that you can move it back a little more.
You should also try to wear your FreeBite upside down to see if it conforms to your dental arches more comfortably this way. It has been designed with asymmetrical surfaces to accommodate as wide a range of dental arch forms as possible.
If you chose a FreeBite comfort, you can try first wearing it in your lower jaw. Should it feel like the bite cushions stick out too far in the back, you can flip it upside down and put it around your upper teeth. Since the upper incisors usually stand further forward than do the lowers, the bite cushions are placed further forward when the FreeBite comfort is worn in the upper jaw.
Especially if you are used to bite cushions made from thin, pliable plastic foil, you will notice that your FreeBite has a more solid feel. The casing of your FreeBite is less passive and more springy, providing its own elasticity similar to a rubber resistance band which you may know from fitness training.
Fatigued muscles become lazy and initially do not want to move. You may feel this reluctance initially when you first try your FreeBite and it may be best to limit your first therapy session to a few minutes. Also, please keep in mind that strength training is not what we seek here, so chewing strongly may well be counter-productive. Instead we try to give our chewing muscles the reflex experience of effortlessly contacting on the back teeth by lightly chewing on the FreeBite, or even only lightly tapping on it with our teeth.
Opening the mouth wide on occasion helps to restore tissue flexibility and resilience. Also, you may move around your FreeBite with you tongue a little to vary the experience before shifting it back into the position where your back teeth contact it symmetrically.
After you have worn your FreeBite a few times, you should notice that it starts to become softer and it becomes less and less difficult to keep it between your teeth for longer time periods, even without chewing on it. However, as with any bite cushion you need to be on the look-out for one problem:
Chronically tight muscles usually run into an oxygen deficit and acidic metabolic end products pile up in the tissues, because the flow of the lymph is compromised more and more the less muscles move. When you clench your teeth together, you demand muscle force without without allowing movement. This may work well for strength training, but is exactly the wrong thing for exhausted muscles!
It is therefore better to start your FreeBite therapy sessions rather a little too short than challenge exhausted chewing muscles too much. The goal is to restore healthy function step by step and a little patience may be required!
As soon as you have become used to wearing your FreeBite for an hour or longer, you probably do not have to worry about that and can try wearing it at night time as well..
The casing of your FreeBite is inert to most acids and bases as well as alcohol and soap. However, acetone will dissolve it. It also is temperature resistant from -20°–60°C (-4 to 140 °F) and will soften at around 80 °C (175 °F). Contact with boiling water will therefore first soften your FreeBite and then destroy it after several seconds. The surface of the casing is smooth, but it may take on color, for instance from red beet juice, red wine or cigarettes.
Normally the only recommended care is to rinse your FreeBite immediatedly after taking it out of your mouth and cleaning it with soap as needed. Brushing it with toothpaste may roughen its surface ads tooth paste often times contains abrasives.